SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Online dating service eHarmony will provide
exclusive matchmaking services to Friendster, an site that helps
people meet for love or activities, the companies said on Tuesday.

Picture Perfect

How to choose the right mate. In October, eHarmony had 3.2 million
unique visitors and was the fifth most-visited online dating site
behind such providers as Yahoo Personals which had 6.2 million unique
visitors, and the Match.com network, which had almost 5.5
million unique visitors, according to comScore Media Metrix.

Friendster had 945,000 unique visitors in October, comScore said.

The tie-up between eHarmony and Friendster comes as competition in the
online dating sector intensifies, forcing sector participants to get
bigger and find new ways to stand out in a crowd.

Consumer spending on online personals was $325.3 million in the
first half of 2004, up from $214.3 million in the first half of
last year, according to the Online Publishers Association and comScore
Networks.